how the application selects partners for us – Knife

I push the large glass door of the bookstore / cafe. I cross the hall, paving the way between piles of used books. By the way, maybe learn German from children’s books? Flowers on each table, calm background music plays. At 15:00 hours, a weekday, the hall is almost empty, only old women sit at a couple of tables. One of them is eating an apple pie with a huge portion of whipped cream.

Anton, a specialist in algorithms and data, is already waiting for me. “I go here for breakfast, this is a good establishment,” he tells me, while I am sitting opposite in a soft armchair of red velvet. “I’m unemployed now, I decided to study machine learning and try to open a bakery. – Anton talks about this with a playful look. – Algorithms and baking bread are very similar processes. In both cases, follow the instructions! ”

The idea of ​​a hacktivist baker amuses me. Anton heard rumors about my investigation through a mutual friend. He wrote to her: “Perhaps I have something for your journalist friend.” And I am very glad that he contacted me.

I am sitting in the company of a pretty stranger, and I don’t really know what this will be about. Anton begins without any preamble: “I was interested in the information that Tinder servers send. You might find it interesting that some photos have the parameter “success rate”, or “success rating”. ”

This rating consists of ten digits, for example 0.1313131313131313133. Anton believes that we have a chance to access him. According to him, this figure corresponds to the percentage of likes that the profile with this photo received – Tinder neither denied this, nor confirmed his theory. The success rate of the photograph from the example above is 13%.

This figure is associated with the Smart Photo function, which allows you to make a cover image with a better rating, while Tinder does not tell you the percentage of success of the photo. IN application blog Tinder recognizes option development through machine learning.

Essentially, internal algorithms study user behavior to determine the most efficient rating system. The idea is simple: the application checks which photos work better by introducing them in turn to a large number of users. According to Tinder, this allows you to increase the number of matches by 12%.

“We’re like your personal research team,” Tinder comments in another blog post. – Which photo is better to make title? Maybe the photo with the dog works better? With the Smart Photo option, you will quickly receive answers to these questions. <…> Indeed, behind each of your swipe is science. We use a secret recipe to make viewing profiles more fun and effective. ”

Anton says that he can get my “success rating” precisely because I activated the Smart Photo function. But to access the Elo rating, on the contrary, is impossible: this information remains inside Tinder, it does not circulate between users’ phones and servers.

Rating! I will find out my first rating! What will she be like? Will I be in the middle peasants? Higher? Below?

“I will have to intercept your rating on the fly.” This is the only way to get it. That is, only when a man watches your profile. ” This information is not stored in my profile or on the phone, it appears only when my photo is shown to another user.

Anton created a special account for this. He found a way to make my profile fall to him. “I have collected all the information about you. I liked the same pages on Facebook, made friends with several of your friends, pretended to study at the same university as you, and that I live on the same street. ” He is laughing.

I don’t already know how to react, but I would like to understand what else this baker-hacker is capable of. And, to be honest, curiosity always wins. I take notes so as not to miss a single detail from what my interlocutor says.

“We will try to get into the Tinder programming interface and steal the data exchanged between the application and your phone,” says Anton.

The programming interface, or API – Application Programming Interface – is something like an express messenger for communication between the application and the server, it sends my request and receives a response. How nerves transmit signals from the brain to different parts of the body.

For example, when I connect to Tinder, a corresponding message is sent to the server saying that I need to show profiles for swipe, update correspondence and matches.

In response, the server sends me new profiles and my own personal data – this information is stored on the server, it does not belong to me and is not stored on my phone. And this happens every time a user enters the application.

Anton connected to the Tinder API and tells what data the application and my profile are exchanging. “I was waiting for you to test this method. But I’m sure that it will work and we will find you, you’ll see. ”

Anton’s screen is divided into two parts. On the left is the familiar Tinder with a series of profiles that you can swipe to the right or left. And on the right, as in the movie “The Matrix”, a black screen and rain of green letters. When a new profile pops up on the left, the coordinates of his photos, information about him and, finally, his success rating appear on the right.

I look at the green symbols and think that every time I sit on the phone, all this data is activated somewhere. After all, the smallest action requires the exchange of a huge amount of information. If we could see the movement of data, we would understand how much information about us is known to outsiders. Octopuses come to mind: they constantly change color to convey messages and express emotions, although they are not able to distinguish colors.

I was just in shock when I found out about it. But we are not so different from them: we constantly share our data with the world, but we can neither see nor understand these messages.

We flipped through dozens of profiles when my photo finally appeared on the screen. Anton almost swung him to the left mechanically to see the next profile, and we almost missed my rating. I grab his hand and shout: “It’s me!” He, too, emits a sort of scream of surprise, and then starts teasing me. The entire cafe is looking at us.

– Exposure is inevitable! He throws joyfully.

– It’s scary.

“Yes, me too,” Anton replies disappointingly.

I raise my eyes and look at the grandmothers sitting next to me. I envy them. I can’t wait to become old, so that such questions cease to torment me. After all, when you are 70, you can no longer try to be beautiful, right? No more competition. I want to be an old woman who eats cakes in the middle of the day, I want to quickly leave this large sex market. Although they say that among older women there is also a war for men, because they die earlier.

Oh my goodness Will this race ever end Will I still look at the profiles of other women on Instagram in 70 to hurt myself? Or to criticize them and feel like not such a failure?

Perhaps by then I would be able to project the hologram of the photograph at home in order to better see all the details, or even compare my photographs with strangers on two holograms side by side. Amazon Echo Box already offers a function to assess the appearance, maybe I can ask him how many points I am behind other girls and how I can get better.

True, after this an avalanche of targeted advertising of Valium, Prozac and other antidepressants will fall upon me. I bet even with free shipping.

This prospect presses me almost physically, and I feel my shoulders drop. I smile at the grannies around to somehow get back into the game.

I wonder if the old women at the next table have at least some idea of ​​what a success rating is. I worry that my rating will be negligible and I will smash the face in front of Anton. I’m afraid of disappointment. Still, I really want to get a good grade.

– And here he is! Your success rating is 0.5505097508430.

That is 55%. Every second likes me.

– A very sad figure. You’re right in the middle! – Anton jokes.

I laugh with him and try to seem carefree. I really don’t understand how to react. I am both encouraged and upset. I am hopeful because I received neither 25% nor 15%. Of course, part of me dreamed about 70%.

I wonder who these guys are that swiped me to the left? Thrown out? I present my photo and on it a red cross and the “NOPE” seal, which appear when the profile is rejected. Maybe these are guys who are only attracted to slender, supersports prawns and phytoni? Or maybe my body has nothing to do with it?

Maybe these guys love girls who are passionate about travel, camping, tents, or women who love music, movies, those who can spend hours talking about their favorite director and mention dozens of their favorite films in their profiles?

I wonder how many people in general came across my profile? A few thousand? Tens of thousands? Well well! After all, if my success rating is 55%, then about half rejected me, and this is 4000-5000 people.

How to imagine 5000 people? Concert hall? But there is exactly the same, full of people who like me! Absurd! And I? How many different profiles have I seen? How many concert halls do I sit in?

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